VIFF Podcast

The urge to escape the mundanities of everyday life is hard to ignore. And yet, so many of us remain tethered to our routines, our homes, our comforts.

In 1957, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster resisted that pull. Instead, they packed their belongings into a Land Rover and set off on a 30,000-kilometre journey across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia—an adventure that would shape the course of their lives.
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In a city plagued by social isolation, Brian Daniel Johnson and Dide Su Bilgin found a story to tell. In their film, A Welcome Distraction, lead character, Ernest, looks for answers amidst grief and heartbreak in this unapologetic portrayal of how disconnected Vancouver can be. Soon, he becomes entangled with a wellness enclave led by a charismatic leader (Adriana Marchand).

A true ensemble film, A Welcome Distraction show...

Kent Donguines' journey creating Treasure of the Rice Terraces began in 2019. From idea to development, Donguines' slow and steady process was grounded with one intention: to be in community with his subjects.

Treasure of the Rice Terraces follows Donguines' travels back to the Philippines to reconnect with his roots. Discovering the world of Indigenous Kalinga tattoos in Buscalan, he falls upon 108-year-old...

From travel bans to the risk of criminalization for her film's subjects, Elöise King had to persevere through many hurdles to get her documentary, The Shadow Scholars, to screen.

In The Shadow Scholars, cameras follow Patricia Kingori, the youngest Black woman professor in Oxford’s 925-year history, on her compelling global investigation into Kenya’s hidden essay mills — an industry where an estimated 40,000 highly ed...

In the 20th Century, painter E.J. Hughes quietly helped reshape the artistic landscape of British Columbia. Each canvas was a place of worship for the artist who was famously too shy to attend his own art exhibitions. Hughes' legacy has left us with many opportunities to bask in the beauty of this province through each brush stroke.

Jenn Strom's The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes explores Hughes’s life not only as a...

Growing up, Ahmed felt at odds with her Afghan identity. She describes herself as a rebellious child, not understanding the need for a head scarf, often finding herself "irked" by assumptions about her, before she even knew herself. Perceptions about Afghanistan perpetuated by "breaking news" from CNN certainly didn't help. In her latest work, In The Room, Ahmed sets out to change the conversation.

Toda...

This isn't Ryan Sidhoo's first time exploring the relationship between sports and space. Also having directed Truth North (2017) and produced Handle with Care (2021), two titles that rounded the festival circuit time and time again, Sidhoo's next feature introduces us to three friends growing up in Bosnia, all of whom have Olympic aspirations. 

What could be seen as a trio chasing a fairytale, The Track (2025) follows...

Ava Maria Safai describes Foreigner as “bubblegum horror”—a genre that layers a glossy, fun aesthetic over a dark underbelly of pain. Following an Iranian teenager who moves to Canada, dyes her hair blonde, and becomes a demon, Foreigner explores the ache of wanting to belong and how far you're willing to go to be accepted.

In this episode of the VIFF Podcast, Safai shares how filmmaking can be brutal in what it teaches you abo...

Mayumi Yoshida is THE multi-hyphenate filmmaker you need to watch. As writer, director, producer, and actor for her debut feature, Akashi, Yoshida's world premiere at VIFF 2025 was met with sold out audiences, celebrating her story tackling themes of identity, class struggle, and artistic aspiration.

In this episode of the VIFF Podcast, we sit down with Yoshida to discuss her Japanese heritage, identity as an immigrant, and why...

Ari Kinarthy’s existence is marked by worry and vigilance around his health, as he struggles with spinal muscular atrophy. Yet he was born with the soul of an artist, becoming a celebrated composer eager to share his story through the power of music. Making him the subject of Jeff Petry and Nathan Drillot's 'Ari's Theme,' Director of Programming at VIFF, Curtis Woloschuk, sits down with Petry to discuss what it ...

In this special edition of the VIFF Podcast, get a glimpse of what goes on behind-the-scenes when it comes to VIFF programming, and how certain shorts make it to screen at our annual festival. VIFF Shorts Forum programmer Casey Wei and her coordinator, Jaewoo Kang discuss how to find the balance between telling the story, and film as a an art form. The pair also dive into the importance of choosing titles with urgent themes, provid...

In Santiago Lozano's 'I Saw Three Black Lights,' a wise old shaman embarks on a final journey into the Colombian jungle to settle a spiritual debt and reconnect with his late son. We sit down with the filmmaker to discuss how an immersive, lush setting can almost act as a character itself, the importance of connecting with cast in mind, body, and spirit, and more on this story of honouring the dead, and tradition.

Thi...

'Cat's Cry' filmmaker Sanja Zivkovic sits down with VIFF Festival Programmer & Program Lead, Sonja Baksa, to talk about her global career spanning all the way from SFU's Burnaby campus to Serbia. 'Cat's Cry' first fell into Zivkovic's lap when the son of famous Serbian filmmaker Goran Paskaljević, Vlad Paskaljević, approached her with the possibility of reviving this moving screenplay fol...

When a mute young man seeks to escape into the wilderness, he quickly realizes he's not suited to survive on his own. To adapt, the young man begins to embody a feline, finding solace in a blind man's home, someone also seeking connection and comfort. Together, the pair forge an unconventional path towards tenderness and intimacy, where the mute young man begins to forget his human identity altogether. 

Kam Fai Leung'...

Harvey is a lonely, overweight man who discovers new self-esteem when he submits a photo to Cherub, a gay magazine “For big men and their admirers.” Director Devin Shears talks from his move from shorts to features in this gentle, ambient character study, revealing the healing power of being admired.

This episode was recorded during the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival.

This podcast is brought to you by the Vancouver Intern...

In 'Judas Icarus Twists His Wrist,' Director Kerr Holden (she/her) follows BC-based wrestler, Judas Icarus, following his arduous road to recovery after an injury. On the choreography of wrestling, the power of score, and how to emphasize athleticism and physicality on screen, Holden joins VIFF Shorts programmer Casey Wei on the VIFF Podcast talking her filmmaking journey, how to identify a subject, and how metal music si...

Hot air ballooning has been illegal in São Paulo, Brazil since the 1990's. Intrigued by this underworld of guerilla artists, who risk their lives, and freedom in order to craft and release huge, lavishly decorated paper balloons up to 70 metres in height, Director Sissel Morell Dargis began creating 'Balomania' when she was 19, spending a decade earning the trust of these baloeiros to tell this story. Today, she join...

Filmmaker Emilija Gašić joins VIFF’s Vanguard series programmer Sonja Baksa to discuss 78 Days, a found-footage film that won the Vanguard Award at VIFF 2024. Shot on hi-8 tapes in her native Serbia, the film follows three sisters documenting their lives during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Inspired by her own childhood memories, Gašić’s decision to use analog tape lent to the "docufiction" quality of the film.

I...

In this episode of the VIFF Podcast, program manager and senior programmer PoChu AuYeung sits down with acclaimed Canadian animator and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming to discuss her latest film, Can I Get a Witness?, which screened at VIFF 2024. Set in a near future where citizens are required to exit life at 50 to combat climate change and inequality, the live-action film stars veteran Vancouver actor Sandra Oh, along with newcomers ...